Life of a Jinchuriki
by sofeyrose
Summary: How would a Fem! Naruto grow up without the help of the Third or the Ichirakus? How would it affect her reaction to the news of being Kyuubi's Jinchuriki?
1. Chapter 1

Title: Life of a Jinchuriki

Summary: How would have a Fem! Naruto grown up without the help of the Third or the Ichirakus? How would it effect her reaction to the news of being the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki?

Uzumaki Aki ran, clutching a loaf of bread close as three Chuunin ran after her, rapidly closing the distance between them.

"Get back here you little thief!"one of them shouted.

"When I get my hands on you...!"another hissed threateningly. Aki paid them no mind, sprinting down the streets of Konoha as if her life depended on it, roughly pushing passed the various people that got in her way.

She was a mere six year old living on the streets, forced to learn how to run and evade before anything else. Her too thin body was evidence of her malnourishment, as well as the scars she got from beatings by people who caught her in the act of theft. The things she wore could barely be called clothes, mere rags she had found that hung loose on her small frame, barely offering anything in the way of warmth or dignity.

For as long as she could remember, she'd been living on the streets. With no one but herself to rely on, Aki had to steal to survive. No one cared about the street urchins like herself. People might watch them steal and run from the ninja, trying to survive as best as they could, but they never got involved. No one wanted to deal with them. It was a cold, harsh reality that Aki lived in, but that was how it had always been.

Sometimes, Aki would find herself jealous of the other children, the ones who had a home to go back to and parents who cared for them and looked out for them. They never had to live like her, forced to steal just to survive. They never went hungry, and they never had to wear dirty rags like her. They were so carefree and happy, and it made Aki sick.

She dodged to the side to avoid a kunai aimed for her arm, and hurriedly continued on. Just a few more minutes, and she'd reach her little hideaway.

Aki didn't dare hope she'd be able to last much longer. She'd long since given up on hoping.

**Hokage's Office**

"You can't do this!" Sarutobi shouted.

"Oh, but we can, Hiruzen," Koharu said simply. "You promised not to interfere in her life, and now you're paying the consequences."

"She needs to grow up this way, to understand that the world is ruthless, and that the world of the shinobi is only more so," Danzo added. "Konoha doesn't need a naive weapon."

Sarutobi gritted his teeth. There was nothing he could do, and he cursed himself again for making that promise, but he had to. If he hadn't, he would have a civil war on his hands.

The lives of thousands was worth more than one girl's, after all.

_'Minato...I hope you can forgive me.'_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Aki, you fail!" Iruka Umino barked out.

Most of the students laughed at the redhead except a dark-haired boy called Uchiha Sasuke who remained as stoic as ever to the outside world. In the back, Hyuga Hinata looked sadly at Aki. '_Aki-chan...'_

"Hai, hai,"Aki replied, a look of indifference on her face. "May I go back to my seat now, Umino-sensei?" Before Iruka could answer she went back to her seat, gazing at the ceiling boredly. Iruka wanted to scold the girl for being so nonchalant, but kept it to himself. He was very worried about Aki, and his concern showed.

Aki was the container of Kyuubi, the strongest and greatest of the Bijuu, the thing that killed Iruka's parents, thus making him an orphan. At first, Iruka despised Aki just like the majority of Konoha, but he had a change of heart after observing the cold, indifferent girl. Aki was a loner, a girl with a shell no one could crack. You're more likely to get a frown from her than a smile-in fact, even after all these years of teaching her, Iruka never saw her smile, not even once-and she didn't try to make friends her age. In fact, Aki tended to avoid human contact as much as possible. The girl practically shut herself off from the world.

She always performed below average ability, but Iruka thought she could do more than that. Even so, Aki didn't seem to care whether she graduated or not. Iruka wanted to graduate her, just to see her smile, but he knew he couldn't do that, so he was forced to fail Aki for the third time.

Aki ignored her classmates laughter. It wasn't as if she wanted to graduate, anyway. She'd never had much interest in being a shinobi, much less being a shinobi for Konoha. The only reason she was attending the Academy in the first place was because she could become stronger and learn some Jutsu;strength was necessary to survive in this village, after all. Aki was disappointed to learn that you only learned three very basic Jutsu in the Academy, one of which she's absolutely horrible at. In the end, though, it didn't matter. She'd gotten what she wanted, and at this point, there was nothing more to learn in the Academy and so no point in attending anymore after today.

**Later**

She sat on the only swing in the academy yard, in the shade of the trees. Her face was expressionless and her eyes were closed in thought.

Aki's eyes opened slowly as she heard the sounds of laughter. Across the yard was a large group of children who passed the genin exams, surrounded by proud parents and family members, congratulating them while boasting to the other parents. It was a picture perfect scene of happiness...

A scene Aki didn't fit in with, and probably never would.

"Look, it's **that** girl. I heard that she's the only one who failed."

Aki turned to gaze at two young women. She could hear their harsh whispers easily thanks to her enhanced senses.

_'Their eyes are just like everyone elses's...cold and hateful,'_she thought, and felt a strange wetness on her cheeks. _'Tears...?'_

The woman's companion sneered. "Good riddance."

Aki quickly wiped the tears away. Sticking her hands into her pockets, she was about to get up when she sensed someone suddenly appear near her. Turning around, Aki saw Mizuki looking at her with what could almost be considered a calculating gaze, but it vanished quickly as a kind smile lit up the man's face.

"Aki, may I have a moment of your time?"he asked politely.

Aki looked at him with well hidden caution. Mizuki had always made her feel uneasy, and this time was no exception.

"Say what you want,"she said quietly.

Mizuki's smile widened...


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

In all her life Aki had been been so tired, so mentally exhausted. She laid down on her makeshift hammock, impatiently waiting for sleep to take her. But sleep did not come, could not come, not after the events of today that would forever be engraved into her mind.

In one night she had been tricked (not that she would ever admit it, of course) into stealing one of Konoha's most sacred scrolls, learned and mastered a forbidden jutsu, had her ex-teacher try to kill her (she should have listened to her gut feeling about that man!), and had to save Umino from said ex-teacher, leading to her gaining a forehead protector of her own, a sign that she had graduated and was now a ninja of Konoha. Of course, Aki already had a feeling Mizuki was trying to manipulate her, but she went along with it because it presented an oppurtunity for her to get stronger.

But that wasn't what kept her awake and unable to sleep.

Aki had finally learned why Konoha hated her, why they looked at her with cold eyes and spat hateful words.

She was a container of a Bijuu.

_'Jinchuriki.'_

Within her, trapped by nothing more than a few squiggy lines of ink, was a Bijuu.

_'The Kyuubi no Kitsune.'_

Aki raised her hands slowly to her face, lightly running her finger over her whiskers. She had always thought they were birth marks, or perhaps scars carved permanently into her skin by someone from Konoha who wanted to hurt her, carved into her skin when she was very, very young so she probably wouldn't remember. Aki wouldn't have been surprised at all if they were.

It is a sad thing indeed, if a child was so willing to believe the people of her own village would go so far to do such an act, to have such little trust in them.

Aki had never even thought of the possibility that they were Jinchuriki marks, signs that she contained a Bijuu within.

A few hours ago, she had never even heard the word _Jinchuriki_.

But now, now it defined her being.

Not Konoha-ninja.

Not orphan.

Not thief.

Not street urchin.

Not even human.

_'Jinchuriki.'_

A sudden realization caused a burst of hysterical laughter to escape her lips.

Konoha...they thought she was the Kyuubi? They thought she was the great and powerful being that ravaged their precious village, all those years ago? That was the reason for all those cold glares, those hateful words, those awful beatings that left scars that now forever marred her skin?

All of these thoughts only made her laugh harder.

And if she felt the wetness on her cheeks, she gave it absolutely no attention.

**The Next Day**

When Aki walked into her old classroom, she attracted no attention.

For someone who constantly wore a colour-vivid red-that was usually easy to pick out of a crowd, when she wanted to be invisible, she was. It was only a testimony to her stealth skills that she was able to sneak into the Hokage's office, steal a carefully guarded scroll and escape, undetected by the Anbu while wearing such a colour.

A colour that was currently absent from her attire in favour of a grey jacket and plain black pants that she'd stolen from a merchant's caravan a few weeks back.

Maybe she was just tired of red.

Maybe she just wanted a change from the norm.

Aki really didn't know, and right now, she really didn't care.

She sat in her seat, next to a silent Shino, put her head in her arms and tried to get some sleep.

Like last night, Aki failed.

Resigned to staying awake, her ears tuned into the loud conversations of the people around her, how excited they were, what kind of missions they might go on, what Jonin-sensei they hoped to have and the like. And they sounded so carefree...didn't they know they'd eventually have to kill someone, whether it be an assigned mission or during the course of a mission? They were so naive...and still so innocent.

When Aki heard Sakura's voice she, mostly by habit, raised her head to look at her.

She was arguing with Ino and a few others girls about who would sit next to Sasuke. _'How annoying...'_

Aki's eyes narrowed.

Sasuke, Sasuke, it was always about him. Uchiha Sasuke, the prodigy, the genius, the perfect student, the-

She cut off that train of thought rather quickly. Aki didn't... _hate _Sasuke. Not really. He just got all the good attention, all the positive attention. Sasuke was..._loved._ Adored by a fair bit of Konoha.

But the Uchiha wasn't a _Jinchuriki_.

She couldn't forget that.

**Later on**

"...and Team 7 will be...Uzumaki Aki..."

Aki glanced up as her name was called, resisting the urge to yawn as she briefly locked eyes with Umino.

Iruka.

One of the very few people who didn't look at her with cold eyes, or didn't anymore, at least. A person who, from what she could discern of last night's events, didn't think she was the Kyuubi, didn't think she was a monster.

No, not the Bijuu inside her.

But a _Jinchuriki_...

Aki frowned and looked away from Iruka's concerned gaze.

"...Haruno Sakura..."

Aki glanced at the pink-haired girl, and met her eyes.

Her _green _eyes... (Aki had always thought Sakura's eyes were beautiful...those eyes always reminded Aki of _her_)

Eyes so familiar that were filled with disgust and distain.

_After all, who would love a Jinchuriki? Certainly not someone from Konoha._

Aki was the first to look away, and her hands clenched into tight fists. _'Control yourself,Aki. Making a scene isn't going to do yourself any good.'_

"...and finally, Uchiha Sasuke..."

She turned her gaze to the back of Sasuke's hair, which she personally thought looked like a chicken's ass, and sighed heavily.

"Your Jonin-sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

And as Aki waited silently for over three hours for their Jonin-sensei to arrive, trying to tune out Sakura's attempts at starting a conversation with Sasuke, she dwelled on her status as a Jinchuriki, and wondered what she did to deserve this fate.


End file.
